Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Aulani Resort opened a few weeks ago, and held a huge grand opening last week. The Disney Resort & Spa in the Ko Olina Resort area is the newest hotel development on O‘ahu that features two towers (one is a hotel, and the other is for Disney Vacation Club members), and a waterslide/pool area. It's the first Disney resort that is not part of one of their theme parks. A few of the Disney cartoon characters, dressed in beach wear, walking around the pool area during the day.

Today's photo shows the main lobby area, which is based on an ancient Hawaiian gathering hall. We went there to celebrate Kat's birthday at ‘Ama ‘Ama, one of the resort's restaurants.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

One of the most colorful airline color schemes was the Aloha Airlines "Funbird" livery in the 1970s. The airline had one of their 737-200s re-painted for their 60th anniversary celebration a few years ago.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

A late summer surf swell hit the southern shorelines of the Hawaiian Islands last week. Wave face heights reached ten feet. On this particular day, I caught the tail end of the swell, where heights reached four to six feet.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

It's hard to imagine that it has been ten years since the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th in New York City, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. Today is the National Day of Remembrance. We pay tribute to the thousands who perished on that fateful day, and pray that something like this never happens again.

This eternal flame memorial was erected a couple of months after the attacks in front of Honolulu Hale.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Kekipi Island Tours is the fictional helicopter air tour company in the series "Hawai‘i Five-0". The helicopter actually belongs to Makani Kai Helicopters, and the Kekipi markings are decals. Local comedian Augie T plays the helicopter's pilot.

Tonight is also the season premiere event being held at Queen's Beach in Waikīkī. The second season of "Five-0" kicks off at special event where the cast, media, and the public will get to watch the season premiere on a movie screen built on a section of Queen's Beach.

Friday, September 9, 2011

During a recent delivery flight from Boeing Field, this Shandong Airlines 737 and crew were greeted with a heavy downpour. Even in the rain, one of the Shandong pilots had to reach outside to cover the pitot tubes while the airliner overnighted.

I had to take cover in a hangar to get the shots. I did get wet too, but brought along a plastic bag to keep my camera dry ...

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Monday, September 5, 2011

"Fat Albert", the US Marine Corps C-130T Hercules, assigned to the US Navy's Blue Angels, makes a low pass over the Marine Corps Air Field Kāne‘ohe Bay runway. The cargo plane made its own flight demonstration prior to the six fighters' performance.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Leading off, is a shot of the nose section of a Virgin Australia Boeing 737, that bears a flying woman, called "Scarlet Woman" with the Australian flag. Their British counterpart, Virgin Atlantic, has a similar image, with the Union Jack. The 737 was making its delivery flight from Boeing Field to Melbourne, Australia, with stops at Honolulu, and Nadi, Fiji.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Local artist Heather Brown (center) is interviewed by a crew for a Japanese TV news magazine at the 2011 Hale‘iwa Art Festival, a few weeks ago. Heather did a commemorative piece for the Matsumoto Store, when it celebrated its 60th anniversary.

Friday, September 2, 2011

A Hawai‘i Air National Guard F-15C Eagle skims the Reef Runway seconds before performing its last "Hang Ten" maneuver, and departing for the mainland. A year ago, the Eagles were re-assigned, and replaced by F-22A Raptors. The metro Honolulu skyline is off in the distance.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Why

After beginning the HNL RareBirds blog, I wanted to put together a photo-a-day blog of my non-aviation photos ... whatever caught my eye at that time I had one of my cameras with me, and the story behind the photo. I'll sneak in aviation-related photos here and there, mostly photos that are not on my airliner blog.

Being a videographer for the past 25 years, I am used to capturing moving images. With photography, I am now capturing moments in time, sometimes at very small fractions of a second. It's a totally different mindset, on two different levels of creativity, though the basics for both, photo and video are the same.

Over the past few years, I have been blessed to have a few dozen photos published in several international airliner magazines, and other publications, along with articles I wrote, or co-wrote.

The light blue words in the text of the posts are related links that will open in a new window.

I thank Jesus Christ, my Lord & Saviour, for the creativity and inspiration to take these photos, for putting me in the right place & time, or for the idea to modify them. I thank all of my photographer friends for your support and advice, also for pushing my creativity further.

... And, I thank you all in advance for taking the time to check out the photos, and for the comments you leave, which are greatly appreciated.

Aloha!

My Goal ...

is that through these photos, it stirred an emotional response in you. Whatever your response was, I know it was different for each person. If any of these photos drew a response from you, I accomplished my goal, and do appreciate your comments.

Art is ... what it is.

The Fine Print

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All photos that are downloaded from Blue Wave Pix are strictly intended for personal use only.

Anyone who would like to use any of our photos, for any purpose other than personal use, must contact the photographer in writing, to obtain permission and licensing to use their photo(s).

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